Jewelry News

Kalel Langford, 14, of Centerton, Arkansas, found the 7th-largest diamond ever discovered in Crater of Diamonds State Park

A teen named Kalel Langford just found a 7.44-carat diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Kalel, 14, named it “Superman’s Diamond” after the comic book hero Superman whose real name is also Kal-El. It’s the seventh-largest diamond ever found in the park. The brown diamond is coffee-colored and about the size of a pinto bean. Kalel found it within his first 20 minutes at the park without even looking that hard, his mother said. The overjoyed Kalel plans to keep the diamond as a special souvenir, but will possibly spend it wisely in the future. “For now he plans on keeping it until he has a chance to let it all sink in, and over time we’ll plan to make a decision,” said his mother. “He told us, ‘That’s what I’ll plan to use for college if I don’t get enough scholarships. And if I get enough scholarships then it can be a down payment for a house.’“He’s a very good kid,” she added. “He is very much into science. He loves rocks and loves minerals.”

An 8.52-carat diamond was discovered in Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park on Wednesday.

On Wednesday June 24th Crater of Diamonds State Park visitor Bobbie Oskarson of Longmont, Colorado uncovered an 8.25-carat diamond. The stone is the fifth-largest diamond found by a visitor to the state park since the site was established in 1972.

At first she thought the diamond was a quartz crystal because of its size and shape, but a park staffer confirmed later that it was indeed a diamond.

"Ms. Oskarson and her boyfriend Travis Dillon saw the Crater of Diamonds State Park on an Arkansas highway map while in the nearby town of Hot Springs and decided to visit the park. And what a lucky first visit it was for her!" park interpreter Waymon Cox said in a press release.

Oskarson named her find the Esperanza Diamond, after her niece, and plans to keep the gem.

More than 30 diamonds have been discovered in the park's search area this year. Cox said above-normal rainfall this year is one reason for the frequent finds.

"Rain, plus the regular plowing of the search field by our maintenance staff, increases visitors' chances of finding diamonds in the search area," he said.

More than 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed in the park since the first diamonds were discovered there in 1906.

The largest rough diamond ever discovered in Crater of Diamonds State Park (and the largest ever found in the United States) is the Uncle Sam Diamond, which was found in 1924 and was a hefty 40.23 carats, according to the park website.